Life After Hell
by Aimlessly Unknown
Summary: War has robbed them of the will to fight. /20 moments of Harry and Hermione, during and after the war./


_Summary_: War has robbed them of the will to fight. /20 moments of Harry and Hermione, during and after the war/

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><p>1. Introduction<p>

The War began years before them, began when a boy named Thomas Riddle was born to a woman without a husband. The War began when green light filled a home and two parents were slaughtered and yet their child lived on. The War began when Muggles and Wizards got married. When people bred within families.

The War began when there was no time left to stop it.

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><p>2. Love<p>

Hermione falls in love with War. With the greenness of it, with the black death above it, haunting her. She loves the paleness, bloodlessness of it. She falls in love with War in her First Year of Hogwarts.

(_The Daily Prophet calls him War when they hate him; they call him Harry when he saves them_.)

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><p>3. Light<p>

He is part of the Light. He is called the Hero of the World. He is the One who is the One. He is part of the Light and he hates it.

Light means he survived and that means that Hermione is still dead and all that is left is the darkness.

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><p>4. Dark<p>

Hermione showers in the dark, she prefers not to see the scars the War has left her with.

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><p>5. Seeking Solace<p>

She just needs reassurance that they are alright and he just needs her to bat away the nightmares.

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><p>6. Break Away<p>

They move to America – a place untouched by their war – and live in anonymity.

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><p>7. Heaven<p>

Harry was in Heaven for three minutes – he saw his parents, saw Sirius, saw everyone who died, and couldn't stop smiling.

Harry returned to a blood stained world and saw Hermione, scarred and dirty and smiling, and cried with joy. As nice as Heaven was, without her it just wasn't right.

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><p>8. Innocence<p>

Ginny was too tainted by all her previous men – Draco is all for erasing the memory and filling her head with him, but Harry doesn't like that.

Ron loves the way Luna can be completely innocent when he is so broken – he thrives on that, Harry, however, couldn't live with someone so blasé about the war.

Hermione loves the sun and the stars and reading by the fireplace, Hermione cries sometimes at night and holds him when he cries too. Hermione is not innocent, but she's perfect for him.

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><p>9. Drive<p>

Both of them drive wherever they have to go – they can't stand the green tinge of the Floo Network anymore.

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><p>10. Breathe Again<p>

Hermione chokes on the blood of those who have died. She fills her lungs with sadness and does not weep. Hermione does not breathe for all the time that the War goes on.

And when Harry kisses her she wails aloud, like a newborn baby, and damn near chokes on the freshness of the air around her.

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><p>11<strong>. <strong>Memory

Harry considers casting an _Obliviate _on himself – to forget the War, forget the pain. Then he remembers that if he did so, he'd forget Hermione and their first night together during the Hunt.

He'd rather live with the screams that do that.

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><p>12. Insanity<p>

People are more than surprised when they find out Harry is in perfectly good mental health. They speak about it in the midst of daily life, a wave of hushed whispers, and Hermione wants to scream at them.

They do not hold him at night as he screams for Voldemort to stop haunting him, as he whispers to the tea pot to stop hissing baleful words, as he stares at her but does not know her. Harry Potter is insane but Hermione is more than willing to be his white jacket.

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><p>13. Misfortune<p>

Voldemort – before he died – had the misfortune of staring into Hermione's enraged eyes as he told her that he killed her beloved. If Harry hadn't killed him, Riddle had no doubt Hermione would.

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><p>14. Smile<p>

Her teeth are buck (no matter what Pomfrey does). Her lips are cracked and pale. Her mouth stretches just a bit too far when she smiles.

But Harry thinks her smile is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen.

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><p>15. Silence<p>

They always have music playing in their home. The silence only brings the screams of the fallen.

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><p>16. Questioning<p>

Harry loves Hermione's curious nature. He can't stand when she questions if she's beautiful.

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><p>17. Blood<p>

Harry refuses to ever let Hermione be wounded again. He has seen far too much blood.

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><p>18. Anger<p>

They don't go to bed angry with each other. The War has robbed their will to fight.

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><p>19. Gray<p>

When they have a son with gray eyes Harry refuses to name him Sirius.

So they name him Orion.

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><p>20. Love<p>

Their love is rough – magic grating against one another, clashing like thunder – and twisted. Their love is desperate, pulling and writhing and warm flesh (_alivealivealive_), burning inside of them, making them bright and warm and burning like a fire of a hearth. Their love is warped and angry, a passion borne of loss and pain.

But they love their dances, he loves her eyes, she loves his hair, he loves her smile, she loves his glasses, he loves her habits, she loves his quirks, they love one another.

They love, and, after a war, it is all that they need.

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><p>I'm a little weirded out because this is a story I wrote a while ago, and I don't know if I like it. So I'll leave it up to you.<p>

Aimlessly Unknown


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